“Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story” Review

written by tariq

With a number of days off in between NBA Finals games, I found myself looking for something to watch on a Tuesday night. After catching up on one of my favorite shows, “Billions” on Showtime, I noticed “Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story”.

This film tells the story of NBA superstar, Metta World Peace, also known as Ron Artest.  Beginning with where he was raised in NYC, it then goes through some of the ups and downs in his life, his NBA career, and mental health issues.

This brave documentary starts off with Ron Artest’s birthplace and where he grew up, Queens Bridge, New York City. Setting the time and environment of what was going on as Artest was growing up, the film features Queens Hip-Hop artists, N.O.R.E and Havoc from Mob Deep.

The documentary continues on describing the relationship between Artest and his father, his high school/AAU teammates and his time at St. John’s playing for the Red Storm, before jumping into his NBA career. Leaving no stone unturned from his rookie year in Indiana, to the Brawl in Detroit, and Championship redemption in Los Angeles with the Lakers. All the time, Ron Artest, better known as Metta World Peace, explains in his own words what he was dealing with regarding his mental health.

Without giving away all the details of what happened in the documentary, I commend Metta World Peace for talking about mental health. Especially because it is a topic that has been taboo for a very long time, primarily within the African-American community.

Words like “anxiety” and “depression”, or even the phrase “talk to someone,” were often met with resistance back when I was growing up in the Bronx. And don’t even think about meeting a psychiatrist or psychologist, that was out of the question.

Again, I encourage people to watch the documentary, basketball and non basketball fans alike. Not to judge Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) solely based on the man he was or the negative stories, but on him describing his mindset at that time and being honest. Besides, don’t we all love a great “Comeback Story”?